April 18, 2005

Students March, Protest Violence

By | April 18, 2005

“Yes means yes, no means no, whatever we wear, wherever we go,” chanted approximately 60 Cornell students as they marched from Ho Plaza down to the Commons on Friday evening. Friday marked Take Back the Night, the annual march and rally to protest sexual assault and violence against all, promote community awareness and give a voice to survivors.

The march began in three different locations at 7:00 p.m. before it converged into one large group for the rally on the Commons, which began at 7:30. Many Cornell students started marching at the Ho Plaza location, while other people originated at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center and at Ithaca College. The end result was a group of hundreds of people that consisted of Cornell students, Ithaca College students and many other members of the Ithaca community. The rally included speakers, musical performances, slam poetry and information about community resources.

When people first arrived at the Commons, they were offered an array of items such as blue armbands signifying alliance with the cause, purple armbands signifying one’s survival of a sexual assault, stickers promoting TBTN and purple wrist bands containing the words “bravery,” “hope,” “endurance” and “courage”.

“One in three girls and one in five boys will be sexually abused before they are old enough to vote,” said Maria Coles, acting mayor of Ithaca, who was one of the first speakers of the night. She told the crowd several shocking statistics, including that “every 2.5 minutes another person is assaulted.”

The goal is to “create an atmosphere of zero tolerance of violence against women, children and men … where all people can walk without fear through the streets,” Coles said. She then went on to proclaim to a cheering crowd that April 15, 2005 was “a day to take back the night in the city of Ithaca.”

“Take Back the Night is actually a national movement that started in Germany in 1973 in response to a series of sexual assaults, rapes and murders,” said Carolyn Turett ’02, the Adult Community Educator at the Advocacy Center in Ithaca. She went on to say that “the first take back the night in the United States was held in San Francisco in 1978, and more than 5,000 women representing 30 states joined the event.”

Turett said that TBTN has been going on in Ithaca for more than 20 years. She explained that her role is to be an advisor and supervisor for the TBTN Collective, which “does the planning for the event, but is predominantly made up of students from Ithaca College and Cornell.” They also open up the planning to anyone else in the community who wants to help out. Originally the event focused mostly on violence occurring at night against women, but the event now has a larger focus.

“We emphasize that sexual violence is non-discriminatory — it crosses all lines of race, nationality, socioeconomic status, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity and expression,” Turret said. She said that now people realize that violence happens during the day and not only at night.

Turett said that “Take Back the Night always has a strong showing of college students,” which was evident from the turnout on the Commons. Many of the people there were from Cornell and Ithaca College, including Emily Marchese ’05, who led the cheers during the march from Ho Plaza.

“I’m a feminist and I think this is one of the most important issues for women of our time — stopping violence against women,” Marchese said. She also indicated that this was her third year participating in the march.

Another Cornell student, Jamie Gullen ’07, was also in attendance. Gullen, the co-president of Students Acting for Gender Equality, said that the group has been working with the Women’s Resource Center to plan the event.

“It’s really important that we recognize this is still a problem,” Gullen said, making special reference to Cornell’s recent issues like the “Collegetown Creeper”.

Nate Felton, an Ithaca College student and one of the few males in attendance said he was there to support “a few friends who were raped in the past.”

The event “promotes unity and a feeling that everyone has a common bond and a necessity to fight the problems of domestic violence and rape … it’s silly when [sexual assault] is affecting people’s friends [and they choose not to support the cause]. I feel that more men and women should support this,” Felton said.

Turret also spoke of the prevalence of sexual assault and domestic violence in explaining the role of the Advocacy Center.

“In 2004, the Advocacy Center provided services to 1,400 Tompkins County residents of all ages who have experienced the emotional and physical impacts of domestic violence, child sexual abuse and sexual assault,” she said. She explained that these issues are extremely under-reported and many people are afraid to speak out about their experience or are unaware of the services available to them.

“We live in a society that leans towards blaming the victim — why were you out at night by yourself? What were you wearing? Well, you were drinking, weren’t you? – So it is not surprising that it is so difficult for survivors of violence to speak out,” Turret said.

The Advocacy Center has a 24-hour hotline that people can call when they want to speak to a trained counselor. The advocates accompany survivors to the hospital, police or court, “which can help make the experience less overwhelming,” Turett said. The advocates can also provide ongoing long-term emotional support for a survivor.

The point of TBTN is to “recognize that all of us have the right to demand to live without fear and violence,” Turret said. She said that she thought the night was a great success.

Related

ByApril 19, 2005

When a lacrosse team scores 15 or more goals, as the Red did in a four-game stretch that included wins over No. 16 Yale, Penn, Harvard, and No. 7 Syracuse, guys who do the “little things” usually get overlooked. But in a game like the Red had Saturday, a hard-fought 8-7 win over No. 11 Dartmouth, the little things are what win games. What are those little things? Ground balls, clears, and forced turnovers — statistics that are usually secondary to goals and assists for most people. But they are statistics that are at the heart of what the defensive midfield position is all about. “They do get overlooked,” said Cornell head coach Jeff Tambroni about the Red’s defensive midfield. “Not by the players or coaches, but by those who judge the talent of college lacrosse players.” However, the purpose of this unit isn’t to score goals, it is to create scoring opportunities by controlling possession and quickly moving the ball upfield to the Red’s talented attacking corps. If the team finds itself in a struggle though, it can simply be the unit that controls possession for the team, allowing it to have a chance at timely scores. Tambroni believes they are doing a good job in both facets. “They’ve been fantastic in transition, getting us a lot of the offensive opportunities we’ve had” he said. “[They also] enable us to get more possessions with their work [in the middle of the field].” The work of a defensive midfielder is usually made harder because, with the exception of the long-pole position, they all play with shorter sticks than true defenders use, thus making it more difficult to force turnovers and control the ball. “It’s the toughest position to play in college lacrosse,” Tambroni said. “They do everything that defensemen do, just with short sticks. That’s what is the most impressive thing about the position.” Two of the players who are key contributors to helping the Red offense from the defensive midfield position are junior Dave Bush, who is third on the team with 32 ground balls, and junior Mike Pisco, who plays the long-pole position and has a team-high 35 ground balls. Despite not being listed as a defensive midfielder, senior J.D. Nelson serves a similar role, as he is in charge of the bulk of the faceoff duties for the Red. Nelson has won 47 percent of his faceoff attempts, while he has collected 34 ground balls. Because of all this talent that Tambroni has to work with in the middle of the field, he changed some of his coaching styles this season to showcase his team’s speed. This allows the Red to find more ways to get transition opportunities and also more shot attempts by getting them the ball as often as possible. “It was a conscious coaching change based on personnel,” Tambroni said. “When you have the athletes that can run from defense to offense [quickly] … and we have the guys will the skill to do that, you try to get more transition chances.” So far this coaching strategy has worked. Despite the fact that Tambroni has said he has had to live with some more turnovers because of the faster pace his team has adopted, the Red has put up an average of 11.89 goals per game and has outshot its opponents by an average of just under 10 shots per game. Hopefully for Cornell, it can continue this scoring pace in its remaining regular season games — contests with Princeton, No. 18 Brown, and Hobart — and into the NCAA tournament. If it can, all those little things that the defensive midfielders do will amount to some big things on the national scene.Archived article by Chris MascaroSun Sports Editor

ByApril 19, 2005

It’s Sunday evening here on the Arts Quad. The sun is setting, and just a few people are walking around. They’re talking about how nice the weather has been, or about the new baseball season. Some are heading home, others to the library; some are going to the Jimmy Eat World concert. Soon, the night will reluctantly arrive, and a new week of class will begin. Earlier today, students were throwing around baseballs and Frisbees. They had left their books at home — if only for an afternoon — and found a kind of comfort, and joy, in a simple game of catch. They were out enjoying the new season, and the beauty of our reborn Cornell. After all, it seems like everything around here is new. There’s a new sense of life, and of possibility. Even our ancient buildings look different — with cloud shadows moving along the old stone walls, surrounded by the green hues of the campus. Everyone walks around the quad this evening with a certain kind of dignity, a kind of pride, like a champion athlete. Another week is over, another round of life complete. They have fought hard — and today, they return to their little corner of the ring, getting ready for the next round. Because tomorrow, they must go back onto the uncertain canvas once more. But right now, you can sense a real magic to a day like this. In a way, it reminds me of a great varsity Cornell game. It’s an energy, an awareness of life. It was like that last Tuesday, when the men’s lacrosse team beat Syracuse, 16-14, at the Carrier Dome. Today, you can read the stats and quotes, look at a photo or two — try to get a real sense of the game. But, a game is more than that. It’s about the small moments when everything comes together — when the defense stops an attack, or when a team works perfectly as one. Sometimes we forget about the kind of art that Cornell athletes create. It’s an honest art — an art of vitality, and courage. And their art is never easy; it comes from hard work and determination. Cornell athletes dedicate their lives to small moments. And they know their efforts may never lead to championships or fame. But they fight on, always believing that their work can add up to something great. They keep going — looking for happiness in their time here. The students on the quad today wanted to know a little of that joy — when they threw around a baseball, or when they laughed under the heat of the sun. This afternoon, they were able to find some kind of meaning in those small moments. And now, tonight, the sun is almost down, and the air is getting cool. A few lights have turned on across the green yard. Maybe over there you can see an athlete — and maybe he’s thinking of the season gone by. He’ll think about the good moments really — the moments of joy and exhilaration. The times when he said, this is how life should be, and when the future seemed full of promise. And that joy — that world of possibility and hope — well, you never want it to end. And now, as the sun finally goes down, you think maybe, in some way, it never will. Ted Nyman is a Sun Staff Writer. Fast Times will appear every other Tuesday this semester. Archived article by Ted Nyman